In 1859 Giovanni Gaja began purchasing a series of superior vineyards in the Barbaresco zone of Piedmont, Italy that would soon produce what some critics call, "Italy's finest wine." Currently, GAJA's holdings total 250 acres of land in Piedmont, located in the Barbaresco and Barolo DOCGs, the majority of which is planted to the Nebbiolo grape. In the late 1960s, Angelo Gaja, Giovanni's great-grandson, took over the winery operations. Having trained in Oenology in at Montpellier, he brought back to his family's estate a passion for French wine, vinification methods and grape varietals, introducing Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. Neither a modernist, nor traditionalist, GAJA walks a fine line between the two, fermenting wines for up to thirty days and ageing them for one year in French oak barriques, a third of which is new. The aging process is completed in the traditional Slavonian oak botti (50-60 hL). In the 1990s, the estate grew again, this time with the acquisition of vineyards outside of Piedmont, in the Montalcino and Bolgheri regions of Tuscany. AngeloÕs daughters Gaia and Rossana now continue the family tradition of running the estate.
